


We Don't Need to Know the Way Home

by jenny_wren



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Tarsus IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 01:36:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4328772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenny_wren/pseuds/jenny_wren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marcus wrecked the cryotubes</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Don't Need to Know the Way Home

**Author's Note:**

> Kink meme fill: So, we're at the scene on the Vengeance when Khan has gone on ahead to do...whatever he's doing. Kirk is about to tell Scotty to stun Khan when they get to the bridge. But before he can, he gets a call from Bones. The man in the torpedo they opened has died...and he's checked the rest of the people - yep, they're dead too, or VERY close to death. To the point that they can't be saved.

“Wait, what? Bones say again,” because Jim can’t have heard that right.

“They’re all dying Jim, or dead. Marcus had the controls fritzed.”

“Goddamnit.” Jim collapses back against the wall, because goddamnit.

“Is there nothing you can do?” Scotty protests and Jim hears his voice in person and its echo over the comm.

Bones growls, “They’re rotting from the inside out. When I say dying I mean basic functions only, no consciousness, no hope of consciousness.”

Goddamnit. 

Khan reappears still wearing his cloak of smooth superiority. His steps falter.

“Captain?”

Jim lifts his head, “I’m so sorry,” he whispers hoarsely.

“Captain?” Khan’s voice has lowered dangerously.

Scotty waves his arms frantically, “Captain,” he protests.

Jim blinks at him, then realizes, oh, Scotty thinks he should lie. It hadn’t occurred to him, still doesn’t seem an actual possibility. This is Khan’s crew.

“Marcus wrecked the cryotubes,” he explains bluntly because you can’t flannel news like this.

“No.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No!” Khan roars. The wall slams into Jim’s back and Khan’s eyes bore into his. “No,” Khan says again, and Jim’s body jangles as Khan shakes him.

Scotty raises his phaser. Jim waves one hand to tell him to stand down, and focuses his attention on Khan.

“I’d change things if I could.” Jim would change everything if he could, right back past Pike getting shot, he doesn’t even hold Khan responsible anymore, not really, the enemy is Marcus, and screw Spock’s follow the law and arrest them demands, Marcus is going down. They’re not dragging him back for Starfleet to play their political games and find some way to make this all Khan’s fault and hang him out to dry while Marcus retires with a commendation.

Khan drops him then and tears away. Jim picks himself up and wheezily races after him.

Khan hits the bridge like a force ten storm. By the time Jim catches up, everyone’s unconscious except for Khan who has his hand around Marcus’ throat squeezing slowly. Marcus’ desperate gaze catches Jim’s pleadingly and Jim’s eye brows shoot up because seriously, Marcus thinks he’s going to help him?

It takes Marcus a long time to die, which Jim thinks is good sign because it means Khan has regained some control over himself. Scotty pounds onto the scene, phaser at the ready, but he draws to a halt when he sees Jim’s not interfering.

“Captain?” he asks. He looks puzzled, which Jim doesn’t understand. Jim would be throttling Marcus himself, but he figures Khan has the prior claim.

Khan drops the corpse with a howl of anguish and his head moves blindly as he casts about for another target. His eyes laser in on Carol, and okay that’s not happening.

Jim skids across the room, shoving himself between the blonde woman and Khan.

“Stop,” he says, not loudly but clearly.

“She is his daughter.”

“And Pike was my –,” Jim grinds to halt because wasn’t his Dad, not really, even if it felt like it sometimes, “Pike was mine. We could go on killing each other until we’re nothing but bloody smears. This stops now.”

Khan’s eyes are wild and Jim knows at this point in time reducing them all and himself to bloody smears sounds damn good. Khan wants nothing more than to obliterate and be obliterated.

He grabs Khan’s arms, although he knows the augmented human could break his grip and him easily.

“Stop. It will change nothing. They will still be dead.”

The shudder works through Khan and cracks him wide open. Jim has to shift his grip quickly and lower them both to the floor as Khan collapses, all his strings cut.

Scotty coughs, and Jim glances up at him. For a moment he contemplates just stunning Khan to put him out his misery, but it won’t make the grief go away and Khan doesn’t deserve to wake up and have it all crash over him again. Jim attempts a smile to reassure the engineer,

“Stabilize the ship, secure the bastards,” he jerks his head at Marcus’ security force, “check in with the Enterprise. And give us ten minutes.”

“Yes Captain.” 

Jim leaves it all to Scotty to deal with, he and Spock will manage better than Jim could anyway, and concentrates on the man in his arms, this Jim understands, this he knows how to deal with. He locks his arms and legs around Khan’s shaking body and just hangs on.  
Khan’s not even speaking English anymore, but his words are such a desperate jumble Jim doesn’t think he’d understand them either way. He’s glad, nobody should hear this.

Bones shows up almost immediately and holds out a hypo but Jim scowls him away, the last thing the poor guy needs is to spin things out with a sedative coma. Bones sighs but doesn’t push, just ruffles Jim’s hair like he’s thirteen or something.

Eventually the storm passes and Khan crashes. Bones reappears with blankets and they enfold Khan in their warmth. Even passed out with grief-fueled exhaustion, Khan fights the loss of Jim’s closeness. Jim giggles, the sound high and shrill. 

“Guess teddy bears won’t cut it this time.” He giggles again at the thought of Khan snuggled up to a therapy bear. Bones face tightens and yeah, Jim’s more strung out than he thought he was.

He grabs a couple of blankets off Bones, rolls them into a tight bundle, and stuffs them into Khan’s arms. He clutches the bundle close and subsides with a sleepy sigh.

“Alright,” says Bones, “three to beam directly to sickbay.”

“On it,” says Scotty over the com and Jim realizes Scotty switched ships while he was out of it. As soon as they re-materialize, Jim pulls himself back together,

“Right, better go and check in.”

“Not a chance,” says Bones, “you are staying right here. You are in no shape to take command.” And then there’s a hypo coming for him.

Oh, Bones doesn’t think he should be in command either. That makes it unanimous. Jim dodges the hypo. Bones’ face is a picture,

“How did you just do that?”

Jim rolls his eyes. Bones really does believe he’s incompetent if he thinks he can’t dodge a hypo when he needs to.

“At least tell me what’s going on before you put me out?”

Bones considers, then says, “Both ships are secure. Marcus is dead, but then you knew that.”

Jim nods impatiently. He’s starting to wish he hadn’t come over all noble and let Khan have the kill. Regardless of the other man’s prior claim, Jim wouldn’t be feeling quite so hollow if he had the sick heat of satisfied vengeance to warm him.

“Starfleet security are on their way to take custody of Khan.”

Right, that’s not happening.

“And wait til you hear this. The hobgoblin contacted his elder half. Apparently he tangled with Khan too.” Bones explains the story quickly and sums up with, “so we’re lucky you took him out. I think Spock was working on plans of utter destruction, you know how intense he gets when he’s pretending he isn’t angry.”

Jim can’t stop his eyebrows going up in sheer surprise. Other him abandoned Khan and his people on a planet, when he damn well knew how quickly a planet could go bad, and then when things predictably went bad, it was somehow Khan’s fault for getting pissed off. Jesus, other him was a total dick. The only thing wrong was that Spock was the one who ended up dying, not other him, though it apparently didn’t stick, so whatever.

“Can I just sit quietly without you putting me under?” He tries the begging eyes, and apparently those are still working, Bones smiles indulgently.

“Sure, I know it’s a lot to take in.” Bones hustles off to fix the security men Khan broke. Jim gives him ten minutes to get into the operating theater while he makes some plans. Then he shakes Khan awake.

Khan’s blue eyes stare right through him. Jim presses his finger to his lips to signal for silence.

“Come on,” he whispers, “we need to be quick. Starfleet Security’s on its way. I’d be surprised there not here yet, but I expect they’re organizing the press conference.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Oh come on, like I’m going to Starfleet get their hooks into you. If security’s on its way you’re not getting a new identity and a new life like some.” Jim smiles bitterly over the earliest betrayal.

“I killed people.”

Jim shrugs his shoulders, “Well we’re not doing that again, but section 31, not a great loss. Pike yeah, I kinda hate you for that, but I’ve forgiven worse. There are a lot of people,” four thousand to be exact, “in this galaxy I’d be more than justified in shooting straight through their yellow hearts. At least you were fighting back.” 

Jim manages a smile then, because it’s true, Khan was fighting back. Jim admires that and can forgive it far easier than those who turned away because they were on the right list.

“You are helping me?” Khan cocks his head like he simply doesn’t understand.

“Sure,” says Jim easily, “I’ve got to do something since I’m useless at being captain of a starship. And there’s a perfectly good slave trade that desperately needs fucking over.” 

Khan sits up, face suddenly alert, “Slavery still exists.”

“Big time. But the slavers are neutral so it’s totally cool.” Jim bites down on a smile as he can see Khan’s brain restart and focus on the new problem. This was so the right tack to pick.

“We should do something about that,” says Khan absently, mind clearly on plotting stratagems.

“With you all the way. But we need to get out of here first. I’m presuming you’ve got a back door into the Vengeance’s systems.”

Khan looks at him like it is a truly stupid question.

“Then we’re set. We’ll go hide out with Tommy for a bit. I think you’ll get on.”

Khan does not appear to be convinced.

“Me and Tommy are old hunting buddies.”

“What did you hunt?”

Jim shrugs casually, “Just this and that.”

“And did you kill them all?” Khan asks, and Jim smiles because he knew Khan would understand. He thinks of Kodos’ face when he realized who’d tracked him down and smiles wider, 

“Oh yeah.”


End file.
